Wolf wrongly suspected in the canton of Schwyz
Last year, there were no wolf kills in the canton of Schwyz.
In total, ten wolf sightings were reported in the canton of Schwyz, and wildlife wardens were able to secure six DNA samples in 2018. In two cases, wolves were confirmed, in two cases dogs. One analysis identified a fox.
In May, a farmer had reported the discovery of a dead sheep in the Alpthal area to the wildlife wardens. They collected DNA samples, and at the same time an SMS alert was sent out by the cantonal police operations centre. As stated in the wolf situation report published on Thursday, the DNA sample revealed that a dog had killed the sheep and not a wolf as initially suspected.
SMS alert
The SMS alert was triggered a second time on 17 September, when a wolf was suspected in Egg near the Haflinger stud farm.
As the report further indicates, the presence of the wolf had not led to any reduction in wildlife populations or hunting success in the canton of Schwyz to date. In fact, 2018 saw the highest red deer harvest in the history of the canton of Schwyz. And red deer is considered the wolf's primary prey.
Two genetic individual analyses in the canton of Schwyz identified wolf M52. The report, now published for the third time, states that M52, which lives in the canton of Schwyz, has so far behaved inconspicuously and without issue even around humans.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
